I'm getting ready to order the parts for my new computer and I was looking at two different brands of Ram. I was wondering if I could get some help picking out which would be better for gaming. Any advice is appreaciated.

i would go with teh patriot, i was considering teh ocz a few days ago(i went with ballistix tracers) the ocz you cant oc to much, patriot makes great memory, i think the ocz heatsync is there mainly for show, but thats just my opinion

A 10% overclock in memory clocks will get you maybe 1-2% improvement in general performance if you have a modern CPU with cache.

A 10% overclock in memory timings will get you maybe 0.01% improvement in general performance if you have a modern CPU with cache.

IF you are going to spend a few extra$, spend it on the CPU or the GPU, for either a better model, or better cooling. That's where you get the best return.

HOWEVER, DO buy RAM to meet the recommended memory clock of the mainboard, ie. dont use 333 DDR on a 400 board, or 667 DDR2 on a 800 board. The 25% improvement in memory clock will get you on average a 10% performance gain in typically applications. But going from, say, 400 to 420 (a 5% increase in clock) will only give you about 1% overall performance increase in the best of situations.

I have twin pair of corsair PC6400Pro (using Micron) and PC8500 (also Micron) (E8400 OC 3.6)and being able to clock them to 1066MHz from 800MHz shows an improvement in Windows startup and loading of apps and games. I had first hand experience when I didn't know how to use my PC8500 with my maximus formula leaving me with PC6400. When I figured out how to get my PC8500 working (had to crank dram voltage to 2.10V instead of 1.80V) I notice a dramatic improvement in how windows performed and how games like DiRT, BF2, TF2, etc improved. I really wasn't expecting anything...

Now going from one set of PC6400 to another, I seriously doubt you will see the performance I noticed (if any at all) regardless of how tight the timing is between the 2.

That is a BIG difference. 25% increase in memory clock due to faster memory/mainboard baseline. I would imagine you would get about 5-10% overall performance increase on that (One quarter to one third of clock increase). But you are essentially running "faster memory" but stick "at stock" speeds for the memory. What the discussion is about is overclock beyond design operation.

Overclocking the 1066 by another 5-10%, to say, 1150, is only going to give you an extra 1-2% performance improvement.

That is a BIG difference. 25% increase in memory clock due to faster memory/mainboard baseline. I would imagine you would get about 5-10% overall performance increase on that (One quarter to one third of clock increase). But you are essentially running "faster memory" but stick "at stock" speeds for the memory. What the discussion is about is overclock beyond design operation.

Overclocking the 1066 by another 5-10%, to say, 1150, is only going to give you an extra 1-2% performance improvement.

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I believe that same 1-2% would apply with a PC6400. This ram was so good that I was able to get it up to around 960MHz at 4-4-4-12 yet I didn't notice much of an improvement but that was on another motherboard. That's why I never sold it. It's like finding gold

You should really take PATRIOT. Mine PDP Patriot extreme performance LLK, mid-range model, can easily take 1000Mhz at 2.2V and CAS 5. They start 2.1 volt cas 4 at 800, but i lowered it at 1.85V with no issue. If u want to OC with a modest budget, i think that only g-skill can beat patriot!

I'm getting ready to order the parts for my new computer and I was looking at two different brands of Ram. I was wondering if I could get some help picking out which would be better for gaming. Any advice is appreaciated.